London Export Award

Where would we be without our notebooks and laptops these days? Knomo, a designer and manufacturer of luxury leather laptop computer bags saw this one coming and started to design special laptop bags that are stylish as well as practical. The innovative company took home the capital’s premier business award for Outstanding Achievement at the 2008 London Passport to Export Awards. The awards recognise the achievements of SMEs in trading overseas under UK Trade & Investment’s (UKTI) Passport to Export programme of advice and supports new inexperienced exporters.

Looking to expand overseas, Knomo approached UKTI in 2006 and signed up to the Passport to Export scheme. As a result, Knomo has established distribution partners in Benelux, Scandinavia, Slovenia, the Middle East and Australia. With further UKTI assistance, it has also sold directly to Apple Europe, and is stocked by Mitsukoshi and Daimaru in Japan, and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. The company’s Northern Europe office was set up in 2008 and there are plans for Knomo to launch in four new countries including Greece and Japan.